‘Twitting about

By Tom McLaughlin

SoVaNow.com / October 16, 2013

A while back, I wrote my first-ever Derp Column in an attempt to inculcate the habits of newspaper readership among the younger set. (Yes, I know: a more derpy idea never ‘twas. By the way, if you’re unfamiliar with modern slang and thus are left to wonder exactly what “derp” means, ask your nearest teenager. Preferably before you tell him to get off your lawn.)

The Derp Column sought to explain the world in terms that a high schooler might appreciate. As such, it may or may not become an annual tradition in this space. A lot depends on whether the effort succeeds in raising my profile with the 18-and-under demographic. Heck, forget demographics — 18-and-under might well describe my entire audience of teen readers. But I’m glad I undertook the effort to achieve Peak Derp. It’s good from time to time to stretch one’s creative powers. Unless I pull a muscle.

Lately the news has been flying by so fast that I’ve felt stressed out trying to keep up. There’s this hot topic to write about — nope, that other one. Or something else altogether. It’s all so dispiriting. How is one supposed to maintain the pretense of coherent analysis in such an incoherent world?

Then it hit me. (After all these years.) Why not just ditch the long-form column format, developed back in the day when four channels ruled the TV dial, and go with a style that’s quicksilver, peppy, what the kids might even call swaggerific? It occurred to me that I would need a new set of ground rules to achieve this writing transformation. So here’s what I came up with:

• a limit of 140 characters for each topic

• ample use of abbreviations and pidgin English, even if this means doing all the things your sixth grade teacher told you never to do — using “2,” for instance, when you really mean “too” or “to.” Which reminds me, I never liked grammar anyhow.

• No more hoary journalistic conventions such as “attributing comments to named sources” or “quoting people verbatim.” Punditry can come alive when you’re allowed to just make stuff up. (How else to account for Fox News?) So if, say, I want to offer a trenchant observation on the malign influence of money in politics, I don’t need to cite boring Supreme Court case law or Federal Election Commission rulings. Instead I can cut to the chase with something like OMG THE DONALD SHOULD HAVE SAVED ALL THAT $$$$ HE GAVE 2 ROMNEY 2 BUY A NEW ‘DO #TrumpCarpets. By the way, I also came up with the idea of using a hashtag at the end of each line. Neat, huh?

I haven’t figured out a name for this new format but I’m sure an idea will pop up sooner or later. Maybe a bird will tweet it into my ear. So here goes:

ACTUAL QUOTE BY COUNTY SUPRVSR DAVID BRANKLEY: “Even if funding were there tomorrow for a new consolidated high school, there is still the need to use the existing high schools and elementary schools and keep them in top shape.” (9/25/2013 Sun)